Setting the Stage: South Dakota State

Colorado State (0-0) vs. South Dakota State (0-0)
Canvas Stadium | Fort Collins, Colo.
Friday, Sept. 3, 7 p.m.

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Season Openers Always Produce High Energy

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The first game of the season is always special. Welcome back fans for the first time in a while, the feeling is even more wonderful.

Colorado State coach Steve Addazio is a fan of the pageantry of college football, but as he steps into the 2021 season, he's looking at Friday's game with South Dakota State more as a head coach trying to build something rather than as a fan of the game itself.

"It's always great to open up at home. It's hard enough to get ready for an opener, but to pack the whole bus up, fly and travel and hotel and going to an opponent makes it harder," he said. "I'm glad to be home, and I'm glad to be in front of our fan base. To me, again, openers are funky. Stuff happens in openers. When you have the crowd not working against you that can only help you. That's just one more obstacle to have to overcome when you're on the road for game one.

"I think being home gives you, I think, a little bit of an advantage. Again, if you don't take care of the football, none of it matters. I'm excited to be here, I'm excited to play in front of our fan base, I'm excited for our kids to feel that energy. I can't wait to watch our team play. We're explosive and we are exciting. My mindset right now is we've just got to get a higher level of execution."

He wouldn't really be a head coach if he wasn't approaching the game with logic rather than emotion. Leave that to the players, who don't have to look at the game as logistically as the staff.

Home or not, David Bailey is just pumped to play a game.

"It's the season opener. Everybody is excited for the game, the fans coming back," the running back said. "Especially this year, just with COVID and everything going on, the fans coming back. It's a new team, definitely a new team for me, just to experience what we're capable of doing to the other team. There's going to be a lot of mistakes, but you're playing ball at the end of the day.

"It's a new environment, just a new team, see how we progressed over the summer. I just saw what I did when I came, and I've seen how guys have progressed over camp, how hard we worked with each other. It's everything they overcame from the winter to the summer, so I'm excited to see how our guys are going to open up this week."

This isn't his first game to start a season, but it is at Colorado State. The Boston College transfer is curious to see what the atmosphere is like, as his excitement level started to rise the Sunday the coaching staff started to introduce the game plan.

But he also doesn't want to make any more of the evening than what it really is, which is a college football game. He's not thinking about trying to be overly impressive for the new fans, just play the contest to the best of his ability.

"I really don't get into that. I just go out there and really play my game," Bailey said. "I always depend on our preparation as a team. I see how we've been working. The guys, they're going to go out there and ball, even me. I just don't really worry about making it more than it has to be. I know what's on the line, and wins are hard to come by in college football. It's another game, and you have to execute."

Leading the Way

Colorado State named season captains, five in all – Toby and Trey McBride, Todd Centeio, Dequan Jackson and Scott Patchan. They weren't hand-picked selections by Addazio, but a group who the players felt represent and lead the team best.

"I let the team elect the captains. Now, I happen to think we have five great captains. I want to be clear about that; I love who we picked," Addazio said. "But the team picked the captains, so my job is I make sure I set the standard for the team, they know what the standard is and they understand who are the guys who hold the team to that standard. Hopefully, the team votes for the captains, the guys that represent the culture of that team. I didn't pick them, but I am quite pleased with who are captains, but it's got to be from the team. I think that's another big piece of it."

Addazio knows some coaches who "steer" the voting one way or another to match their liking. He didn't do that, and he doesn't believe in operating that way. The voting also led to a bigger group than Addazio is accustomed to have out front. He feels five guys is a lot of captains, but that's where the voting breakdown led him to draw the cutoff line.

Now that the locker room has spoken, he wants them to do their part. The captains have to lead, and the others have to listen and follow. Addazio still feels much of what is happening within the program is still coach-led, and he wants to see it become more player-led.

For the Record

Friday's game will be the first at Canvas Stadium with fans in attendance since hosting Boise State on Nov. 29, 2019. That is a span of 644 days. … South Dakota State is the 10^th FCS team in the past 11 years the Rams have hosted. Colorado State is 7-2 in those contests, and both losses came against teams ranked in the national polls. SDSU enters the contest ranked third, coming off a defeat in the FCS National Championship game in the spring of 2021. … The Rams are 61-60-1 in season openers, 23-16-1 in season openers on their home turf. They have not started a season at home since 2018, a loss to Hawaii. The program is looking for its first season-opening win since 2017 – a 58-27 win over Oregon State – the first game played at Canvas Stadium.

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David Bailey

Todd Centeio

Dequan Jackson

Trey McBride

Scott Patchan

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